Deignan, who rides for Trek-Segafredo on the road, is set to carry British hopes in the women’s elite road race at the Yorkshire Worlds.

She told Barbet: “I started cycling when I was 15. I was talent spotted at school. I wasn’t a cyclist, I didn’t have a bike and basically British Cycling were talent spotting. They sent trailers into schools full of bikes and did crude testing on school fields.

“I was just messing around and there was this lad who I’d known from primary school who taunted me into having a race with him and I couldn’t resist. I beat him obviously.

“I was given a bike, a coach and £500 of lottery funding.”

Deignan adds that she didn’t enjoy cycling to start with and thought it was a weird sport, and said she wishes she was more competitive.